In a move some officials see as an end run around Los Angeles’ hiring freeze, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is looking to hire a squad of private investigators to help root out illegal billboards.

The effort has raised questions from City Council members, who were surprised at Trutanich’s efforts to hire outside investigators after he was denied permission to expand his own staff because of the ongoing budget crisis. The council had authorized Trutanich to spend $325,000 hunting for billboard violators, but thought he planned to use employees or existing contractors.

“I do not recall us authorizing something like this,” said Councilman Bernard Parks, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee.

Bill Carter, Trutanich’s chief deputy, said the City Attorney’s Office released a request for proposals to expand a panel of private investigators that the department uses for complex crimes.

“We wanted to hire our own employees, but our budget was cut and we weren’t allowed to hire full-time investigators,” Carter said. “So, pursuant to the direction of the council, we are having to contract outside vendors to help us investigate these crimes.

“We already contract with four outside firms that have about a dozen private eyes that we use for investigations.”

Since taking office, Trutanich has tried to expand his Bureau of Investigations, but no funding has been provided. As a result, he has had to contract with private firms to help with prosecutions.

“We think it would be less expensive in the long run to hire our own people, but the council hasn’t agreed,” Carter said. “We would then have people who understood what we were doing.”

Carter said the funds are not coming from general tax revenue, but from fines the city has collected.

Parks and Councilman Greig Smith, another budget committee member, said they were told the money would be used for the billboard investigations, but not that it would bring on new workers.

The city has had a hiring freeze in effect for more than a year. It has reduced its work force by 3,500 employees, and began laying off more than 200 workers this year.

“I remember the discussion, there was a lot of confusion about the money,” Smith said. “I thought he had people ready to do that. There was never a discussion about hiring contractors.”

Parks said his staff was reviewing the discussions to see what was authorized. He and Smith also plan to ask Trutanich to explain his plans for the workers.

“Putting out an RFP is an expensive process, and it has to go through committees and we will review it,” Parks said. “What I understood, when we gave them the money, I thought they had a bench of people they could reach out and bring them on board.”

City Attorney’s Office spokesman John Franklin said the investigators’ task, taking down illegal billboards, is a top priority for Trutanich and the City Council.

“The City Council told us to go this way to try to find all the illegal billboards in the city,” Franklin said.

The request for proposal on his website said Trutanich wants to hire “several qualified contractors to provide complex criminal investigation services pertaining to business practices.”

The terms of the contract are for six months, with two, one-year renewals.

Trutanich, who campaigned on ridding the city of illegal billboards, has taken an aggressive stance on the issue, arresting building owner Kayvan Setareh and seeking $1 million bail, as well as filing criminal complaints against 27 other companies and building owners who allowed supergraphics. No hearing date has been set yet on those cases.

Franklin said it is not clear how many investigators will be hired.

“It will get more detailed as time goes on,” Franklin said. “We want to see what we can learn initially and then take it from there.”

The city has had a long debate over billboards, with complaints that potentially thousands of the signs in Los Angeles are illegal.